Blake Lively made a pricey fashion statement to celebrate the New York Knicks playing in the NBA Finals.
The 38-year-old actress, in an Instagram Stories post Monday, showed off an orange Hermès handbag valued in the neighborhood of $30,000 to commemorate the occasion.
The Gossip Girl alum displayed the handbag – the NBA team’s colors are blue and orange – flanked by matching charms and ornaments ahead of the Knicks’ home loss to San Antonio Spurs on Monday.
The valuable purse was decorated with a keychain, pieces of cloth and pom-poms, with the actress tagging the team, Hermès and the retailer Stoney Clover into the post.
The price tag for the luxury item didn’t appear to scare off Lively, who continues to pursue litigation with her It Ends With Us costar Justin Baldoni stemming from their case that was settled last month.
Lively has pushed for a mini-trial as she’s looking for what her legal team described as ‘very significant’ sum in damages due to the hit her reputation took amid a year-and-a-half of legal proceedings in the case.
Blake Lively made a pricey fashion statement to celebrate the New York Knicks playing in the NBA Finals, showing off an orange Hermès handbag valued in the neighborhood of $30,000 to commemorate the occasion. Pictured May 4 at the Met Gala in NYC
The valuable purse was decorated with a keychain, pieces of cloth and pom-poms
The actress put up a subsequent post in which she hailed a New York City-based pop-up event Stoney Clover held, with Knicks fever overtaking the Big Apple.
Lively wrote, ‘@stoneyclover making the cutest custom bag charms, hats, bags, you name it through Wednesday in the West Village NYC.’
She added, ‘They may be the only people who love a theme party more than me.’
Stoney Clover announced the pop-up, located at 376 Bleeker Street, last week in an Instagram post announcing the collab with the brand ’47.
‘NEW YORK! As an NYC-based brand, we’re excited to partner with ’47 on a special pop-up experience at our West Village store starting MONDAY!’ the retailer said. ‘Come get your merch, score fun giveaways & more!’
Lively’s well-wishes didn’t appear to be of much help to the team, which lost its first game since April by a score of 115-111, after reeling off 13 consecutive wins.
Game 4 in the series is set to be held at Madison Square Garden Wednesday, with Game 5 slated to be played Saturday in San Antonio.
Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds – also an avid sports fan – was seen displaying a $26,000 Hermès bag in a social media post she put up earlier this month, joking, ‘My account has officially turned into an onlyfans.’
Lively put up a subsequent post in which she hailed a NYC-based pop-up event Stoney Clover with Knicks fever overtaking the Big Apple
Lively, seen leaving a Manhattan courtroom after a settlement conference, is demanding that Justin Baldoni pay damages after the $400million defamation lawsuit he filed against her
The actress said that she wanted to call experts to quantify her losses from Baldoni’s failed $400 million defamation lawsuit against her in a hearing in federal court in Manhattan on Monday.
Her lawyers said that the sum she was seeking would be ‘very significant’ because of her reputational harm. But Baldoni’s lawyers objected and said that it would amount to an ‘alternative trial’.
The judge at the court in New York appeared to be urging Lively to reconsider, telling her lawyers: ‘Your client does have the ability to end this.’
Lively wants her legal fees paid plus costs, along with triple damages and punitive damages on top.
During the hearing Lively’s lawyer Michael Gottlieb did not put an exact figure on the amount of damages they would be seeking.
However, they would need expert testimony to ‘quantify the reach of the allegation from the complaint [by Baldoni] that branded Miss Lively a liar.’
Gottlieb agreed when Judge Liman asked if that also included ‘lost job opportunities from the alleged spread of this and harm to reputation?’
Judge Liman appeared dubious to such evidence being presented to the court outside of a trial. He said: ‘All of which without a jury?’
Baldoni, her co-star and director on the movie It Ends With Us, filed his lawsuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds and the New York Times in January 2025, a month after she sued him for sexual harassment and a ‘smear campaign’ against her for speaking out
Gottlieb said that would be ‘entirely appropriate,’ insisting that the law did indeed allow Lively damages and it was triggered when Baldoni sued her.
Baldoni’s lawyer Ellyn Garofalo said there was ‘no evidence of any sort’ that Lively’s reputation was harmed by his defamation lawsuit. She said that ‘reopening’ the case would amount to an ‘alternative trial’ which she suggested could take a long time to resolve.
At times during the hearing Judge Liman appeared to be grappling with how to interpret the law, which only had one or two precedents given how new it was.
Judge Liman told both sides he was not trying to come up with ‘something that’s convenient for you all’, instead he was trying to figure out a ‘statute that works’
Speaking after the hearing McCawley said Lively was determined to press on, noting that the damages [to Lively] are very significant.
‘When you look at the harm that was caused to her, that’s what it’s meant to compensate, along with the attorney’s fees and costs, and then the statute mandatory provides for trouble.’
Lively and Baldoni have reportedly spent $60 million on lawyers during their legal war, meaning future sums will likely be well into the millions.
Lively had sought $160 million in damages after she sued Baldoni for sexual harassment and launching a ‘smear campaign’ against her after she spoke up against his alleged conduct on the set of the movie, which was released in August 2024.
Lively has pushed for a mini-trial as she’s looking for what her legal team described as ‘very significant’ sum in damages due to the hit her reputation took amid a year-and-a-half of legal proceedings in the case. Pictured in NYC May 19
In April, a judge dismissed most of her case including all the sexual harassment allegations and weeks later both sides reached a settlement with no money changing hands.
The relatively untested law that Lively is relying on was passed in 2023 in California in response to the MeToo movement and was designed to stop defamation lawsuits against those who come forward with allegations of sexual impropriety.
He sought $400 million in damages for what he claimed were false allegations. The case was dismissed in November last year because Lively initially made her allegations to the California Civil Rights Department meaning they were protected by privilege.
In a legal filing Lively’s lawyer Michael Gottlieb said that the relevant law allowed ‘severe and mandatory penalties against any party who files unsuccessful retaliatory defamation actions against sexual harassment and retaliation complainants.’
So long as Lively made her comments ‘without malice’, or she genuinely believed them, she should have been allowed to share her experience without fear of being sued, Gottlieb wrote.
He wrote: ‘The California Legislature intended for (the law) to deter litigation that would otherwise force survivors to defend against a long and expensive retaliatory defamation lawsuit by imposing ‘significant remedies for successful defendants in defamation claims.’
Lively’s lawyer said that the relevant law allowed ‘severe and mandatory penalties against any party who files unsuccessful retaliatory defamation actions against sexual harassment and retaliation complainants’
Lively, seen at the Met Gala just hours after her legal battle with Baldoni was brought to an end with no money exchanged, wants her legal fees paid plus costs, along with triple damages and punitive damages. The total sum in damages that the actress is seeking remains unclear
Gottlieb called Baldoni’s lawsuit against Lively the ‘prototypical suit’ that the law in question was drawn up to prevent.
‘Thus, as the prevailing defendant, Ms Lively is entitled not just to attorneys’ fees and costs, but also compensatory damages tripled, and punitive damages,’ he wrote.
Lively’s actions have sparked alarm among some First Amendment experts who said it could put people off going to court.
Dustin Pusch, a lawyer with expertise in First Amendment cases, told the New York Times: ‘If you’ve been falsely accused of something as serious as sexual assault, sexual harassment, and you actually feel you have a strong lawsuit, this law is going to make you think twice about taking this to court and trying to defend your reputation.’
Another unusual element of the hearing is that once the judge rules, neither side has the right to appeal.
It Ends with Us earned $148 million in domestic box office and $350 million globally – but whatever goodwill the film garnered has since been overshadowed by the allegations made by its stars.
The motion picture, which also starred Hasan Minhaj, Brandon Sklenar and Kevin McKidd, was based on the 2016 novel by Colleen Hoover. The storyline of the film centered around a toxic relationship between Lily Bloom (played by Lively) and Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni).
According to a logline for the film, Lily ‘overcomes a traumatic childhood to embark on a new life,’ as ‘a chance meeting with a neurosurgeon sparks a connection but Lily begins to see sides of him that remind her of her parents’ relationship.’
Lively seen in NYC May 19, the day after the start date of her trial with Baldoni before settling
It Ends with Us earned $148 million in domestic box office and $350 million globally – but whatever goodwill the film garnered has since been overshadowed by the allegations made by its stars
That led to her high-profile role on the TV show Gossip Girl, which she starred on from 2007-2012, playing lead character Serena van der Woodsen.
She has also appeared in movies such as 2010’s The Town, 2016’s The Shallows, 2018’s A Simple Favor and 2020’s The Rhythm Section.
Prior to It Ends with Us, Baldoni was best known for playing the role of Rafael Solano on the TV show Jane the Virgin from 2014–2019.
He also has directed films including 2019’s Five Feet Apart and 2020’s Clouds, and penned the 2021 book Man Enough, which tackled misconceptions of contemporary masculinity.
